Cylinder assembly for compressor and assembling method thereof

ABSTRACT

A method for assembling a cylinder assembly for a compressor including a cylinder block having a compression chamber defined therein, a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block to seal the compression chamber, and a valve device interposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head, the method including: supporting the cylinder block on an assembling jig, aligning the valve device and the cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening guide pins through valve guide holes perforated through the valve device and head guide recesses formed at a surface of the cylinder head to be coupled to the valve device, fixing the cylinder assembly such that the cylinder block, valve device, and cylinder head do not separate, and removing the assembling jig from the cylinder assembly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 2005-0054738, filed Jun. 24, 2005, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cylinder assembly for a compressor, and an assembly method therefor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cylinder assembly for a compressor in which a cylinder block, valve device, and cylinder head of the cylinder assembly can be easily assembled while achieving a simplified configuration of the cylinder assembly.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a compressor is employed in a refrigeration cycle of a refrigerator, air conditioner, or the like to compress refrigerant. The compressor includes a compression unit to perform a refrigerant compression operation, and a drive unit to provide a drive force required for the compression of refrigerant. Generally, both the compression and drive units are arranged in a hermetic container forming the outer appearance of the compressor. An example of the cylinder assembly for a compressor is described in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2004-0035492.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-identified problems. It is an aspect of the invention to provide a cylinder assembly for a compressor which can be assembled easily while achieving a simplified configuration, and an assembling method thereof.

To this end, a non-limiting aspect of the present invention provides a method for assembling a cylinder assembly for a compressor including a cylinder block having a compression chamber defined therein, a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block to seal the compression chamber, and a valve device interposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head to control inflow and outflow of refrigerant into and out of the compression chamber, the method including: supporting the cylinder block on an assembling jig, which is formed with a plurality of guide pins, such that the plurality of guide pins extend outward from the cylinder block; aligning the valve device and the cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening the plurality of guide pins through valve guide holes perforated through the valve device and head guide recesses formed at a surface of the cylinder head; fixing the cylinder assembly such that the cylinder block, valve device, and cylinder head do not separate from each other; and removing the assembling jig from the cylinder assembly.

Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a cylinder assembly for a compressor, including: a cylinder block having a compression chamber defined therein; a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block and configured to seal the compression chamber; and a valve device interposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head and configured to control the inflow and outflow of refrigerant into and out of the compression chamber, wherein the valve device and the cylinder head are positioned to be aligned with the cylinder block when the cylinder block is supported on an assembling jig, and wherein a plurality of block guide holes and a plurality of valve guide holes are perforated through a portion of the cylinder block and the valve device, respectively, to allow guide pins to be fastened therethrough, and wherein a plurality of head guide recesses are formed at a surface of the cylinder head to be coupled to the valve device.

Another aspect of the invention provides a method for assembling a cylinder assembly, the method including: fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide hole provided at a cylinder block; aligning at least one of a valve device and a cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide portion provided at each of the valve device and the cylinder head; securing the cylinder block to at least one of the valve device and the cylinder head; and removing the at least one guide pin.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing a non-limiting configuration of a compressor consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a non-limiting configuration of a cylinder assembly included in the compressor consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a non-limiting example of an assembling jig that may be used to assemble the cylinder assembly for the compressor consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a non-limiting example of a cylinder block of the cylinder assembly for the compressor consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing non-limiting examples of a valve device and a cylinder head of the cylinder assembly for the compressor consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing exemplary fasteners used to inter-couple the respective parts of the cylinder assembly for the compressor consistent with the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a non-limiting example of the completely assembled cylinder assembly for the compressor consistent with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

By way of explanation, the compression unit may include a piston, a cylinder block, a cylinder head, and a valve device. The piston may be connected to a rotary shaft of the drive unit via a connecting rod to perform linear reciprocating movements. The cylinder block may have a compression chamber in which the piston may be disposed. The cylinder head may be coupled to the cylinder block to seal the compression chamber, the cylinder head having a refrigerant suction chamber and a refrigerant discharge chamber, which are separated from each other. The valve device may be interposed between the compression chamber and the cylinder head to control the flow of the refrigerant being introduced from the refrigerant suction chamber into the compression chamber or discharged from the compression chamber into the refrigerant discharge chamber.

The cylinder block, valve device, and cylinder head may be inter-coupled to one another to form the cylinder assembly. A plurality of fasteners, such as fixing bolts, may be fastened through the cylinder assembly to prevent separation of the cylinder assembly. The fixing bolts may be inserted to penetrate through the cylinder head and the valve device, thereby being fastened to the cylinder block at positions around the compression chamber.

Also, the cylinder assembly may be provided with a guide device. The guide device serves to maintain the respective parts of the cylinder assembly in an aligned state at their correct positions without deviating from their assembling positions when the fixing bolts are fastened, thereby facilitating more easy assembling of the cylinder assembly. The guide device may include a guide device, which may include a plurality of guide pin holes perforated through a cylinder block at opposite edge positions, and perforated through a valve device and cylinder head, respectively, at positions corresponding to the guide pin holes of the cylinder block. The guide device may also include a plurality of guide pins fastened in the respective guide pin holes of the cylinder block, to allow the guide pin holes of the valve device and cylinder head to be successively inserted to the guide pins. Alternatively or additionally, the guide device may include protrusions instead of the guide pin holes of the cylinder head. The protrusions may serve as guide pins, such that the guide pin holes of the valve device and cylinder block are successively inserted to the protrusions, to align the respective parts of the cylinder assembly at their correct positions. With the use of the guide device for aligning the respective parts at their correct positions, the cylinder assembly may be securely assembled by the fixing bolts without risk of separation.

Although this exemplary cylinder assembly for a compressor is advantageous in that the respective parts thereof can be easily assembled with one another via the guide device, elements of the guide device (for example, the guide pins fastened in the cylinder block or protrusions integrally formed at the cylinder head) may increase the number of parts of the cylinder assembly, thereby making it difficult to simplify the configuration of the cylinder assembly.

Accordingly, FIG. 1 is a sectional view schematically showing another exemplary configuration of a compressor consistent with the present invention. The compressor of FIG. 1 reduces the number of parts used in assembly. As shown in FIG. 1, the compressor may include a hermetic container 1 forming the outer appearance of the compressor. The hermetic container 1 may be adapted to receive a refrigerant suction pipe 2 and a refrigerant discharge pipe 3, a compression unit configured to perform a refrigerant compression operation, and a drive unit configured to provide a drive force for the compression of refrigerant. The compression and drive units may be arranged in the hermetic container 1.

The drive unit may include a stator 4, which may be fixed at a location above and around a cylinder block 20, a rotor 5, which may be disposed inside the stator 4 to rotate as it electrically interacts with the stator 4, and a rotary shaft 7, which may be press-fitted in the center of the rotor 5 to be rotatably supported, at a lower portion thereof, in a bearing 6 that is mounted in the center of the cylinder block 20. A lower end of the rotary shaft 7 may form an eccentric portion 7 a.

The compression unit may include piston 9, cylinder block 20, and cylinder head 40. Piston 9 may be connected to the eccentric portion 7 a of the rotary shaft 7 via a connecting rod 8 to perform linear reciprocating movements when the rotary shaft 7 rotates. The cylinder block 20 may have a compression chamber 21 in which the piston 9 may be disposed. Cylinder head 40 may be coupled to the cylinder block 20 to seal the compression chamber 21, and may have a refrigerant suction chamber 41 and a refrigerant discharge chamber 42. Refrigerant suction chamber 41 and refrigerant discharge chamber 42 may be separated from each other. A valve device 30 may be interposed between the compression chamber 21 and the cylinder head 40 to control the flow of refrigerant being introduced from the refrigerant suction chamber 41 into the compression chamber 21 or discharged from the compression chamber 21 into the refrigerant discharge chamber 42.

With this non-limiting configuration, if the rotary shaft 7 rotates along with the rotor 5 in accordance with the electric interaction between the stator 4 and the rotor 5 of the drive unit, the piston 9 (connected to the rotary shaft 7 via the connecting rod 8) linearly reciprocates in the compression chamber 21. Thereby, refrigerant is suctioned from the hermetic container 1 into the compression chamber 21 and may pass through the refrigerant suction pipe 2 and the refrigerant suction chamber 41, thereby being compressed in the compression chamber 21. Subsequently, the compressed refrigerant may be discharged from the suction chamber 21 to the outside of the hermetic container 1 by passing through the refrigerant discharge chamber 42 and the refrigerant discharge pipe 3. As the refrigerant suction, compression, and discharge operations are repeatedly performed, the compressor accomplishes desired compression of the refrigerant.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a non-limiting exemplary configuration of a cylinder assembly included in the compressor. As shown in FIG. 2, the cylinder block 20 may include a body portion 22, a cylindrical portion 23, and a square shaped flange portion 24. The cylindrical portion 23 may extend laterally from a circumferential location of the body portion 22 to define the compression chamber 21 therein. Square shaped flange portion 24 may be provided at a distal end of the cylindrical portion 23 opposite to the body portion 22 for coupling of the valve device 30 and cylinder head 40. The valve device 30 may include a valve plate 31 and a discharge hole (not shown). Valve plate 31 may include a suction hole 31 a formed near the center thereof to communicate the compression chamber 21 with the refrigerant suction chamber 41. The discharge hole may be formed near the center thereof opposite the suction hole 31 a to enable communication between compression chamber 21 and refrigerant discharge chamber 42. The valve plate 31 may be provided with a discharge valve 31 b to open or close the discharge hole. The discharge valve 31 b may be located at a surface of valve plate 31 facing the refrigerant discharge chamber 42 to cover the discharge hole. The valve device 30 may further include a suction valve 32, a first gasket 33 and a second gasket 34. The suction valve 32 may be interposed between the valve plate 31 and the flange portion 24 of the cylinder block 20. The suction valve 32 may also include a flap portion 32 a configured to open and/or close the suction hole 31 a. First gasket 33 may be interposed between the suction valve 32 and the flange portion 24. Second gasket 34 may be interposed between the valve plate 31 and the cylinder head 40. The first and second gaskets 33 and 34 may serve to prevent refrigerant leakage. The valve device 30, cylinder head 40, and cylinder block 20 may be inter-coupled with one another to form cylinder assembly 10.

To assemble cylinder assembly 10 of the present invention, the flange portion 24 may be oriented upward such that a rear surface of the flange portion 24 (i.e., a surface facing the cylindrical portion 23) may be supported on a supporting surface 111 of an assembling jig 100. Assembling jig 100 may be in turn supported by a supporting bar 200, as shown in FIG. 3. Then, the respective elements of the valve device 30 and the cylinder head 40 may be stacked on an upper surface of the flange portion 24 in succession. After that, a plurality of fasteners (e.g., fixing bolts or other equivalent fasteners) 50 may be inserted from the top of the cylinder head 40 to be fastened into the flange portion 24 of the cylinder block 20 by passing through the cylinder head 40 and the valve device 30, to inter-couple and assemble the cylinder block 20, valve device 30, and cylinder head 40. For the fastening of the fixing bolts 50, bolt fastening holes 24 a, 31 c, 32 b, 33 a, 34 a, and 43 may be perforated through the respective elements of the valve device 30, the cylinder head 24, and the cylinder head 40. For example, the fastening holes 24 a, 31 a, 32 b, 33 a, 34 a, and 43 may be positioned at the corners of the elements.

The assembling jig 100 may include a body portion 110, which may be connected to the supporting bar 200. An upper surface of the body portion 110 may form the supporting surface 111, and a pair of guide pins 120 may be integrally formed with the body portion 110. The body portion 110 may be centrally formed along a front end of the assembling jig 100 with a coupling recess 112 having an approximately semi-spherical shape, such that the coupling recess 112 may come into close contact with an outer circumference of the cylindrical portion 23 of the cylinder block 20 when the rear surface of the flange portion 24 of the cylinder block 20 is supported on the supporting surface 111. After the fixing bolts 50 are fastened, the assembling jig 100 may be removed from the cylinder assembly 10.

To maintain the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10 in an aligned state at their correct positions without deviating from their assembling positions when the fixing bolts 50 are fastened, the pair of guide pins 120 may be integrally formed with the body portion 110 of the assembling jig 100. The guide pins 120 may protrude upward from the supporting surface 111 of the assembling jig 100 for a predetermined length at opposite lateral locations. In this case, the flange portion 24 may be perforated, at approximately center positions of left and right lateral sides thereof, with block guide holes 24 b, such that the guide pins 120 of the assembling jig 100 may be fastened through the block guide holes 24 b to align the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10.

When the guide pins 120 are fastened through the block guide holes 24 b of the flange portion 24 to protrude upward, the elements of the valve device 30 and the cylinder head 40 may be aligned with the guide pins 120. For this purpose, the elements of the valve device 30 may be perforated with valve guide holes 31 d, 32 c, 33 b, and 34 b at circumferential positions thereof corresponding to the block guide holes 24 b. Also, the cylinder head 40 may be formed at a surface thereof to be coupled to the valve device 30 with head guide recesses 44. The head guide recesses 44 may be opened toward the valve device 30 to correspond to the block guide holes 24.

The cylinder assembly 10 having the above-described configuration may be formed via an assembling method which may include: supporting the cylinder block 20 on the assembling jig 100; stacking the elements of the valve device 30 and the cylinder head 40 on the cylinder block 20 that is supported on the assembling jig 100 to align the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10 at their correct positions; fastening the fixing bolts 50 through the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10, to prevent separation there between; and removing the assembling jig 100.

Referring to FIG. 4, to assemble the cylinder assembly 10, the flange portion 24 may be oriented upward and the assembling jig 100 may be inserted around the cylindrical portion 23 between the body portion 22 and the flange portion 24 of the cylinder block 20. Thereby, the rear surface of the flange portion 24 of the cylinder block 20 may be supported on the supporting surface 111 of the body portion 110 of the assembling jig 100, and the guide pins 120 of the assembling jig 100 may be fastened through the block guide holes 24 b that may be perforated through the flange portion 24, such that the guide pins 120 may protrude upward from the flange portion 24.

When cylinder block 20 is supported on the assembling jig 100 as stated above (referring to FIG. 5), the first gasket 33, suction valve 32, valve plate 31, and second gasket 34 of the valve device 30 may be successively stacked on the upper surface of the flange portion 24, such that the valve guide holes 33 b, 32 c, 31 d, and 34 d of the elements of the valve device 30 may be successively mated with the guide pins 120 protruding upward from the flange portion 24. After that, the cylinder head 40 may be stacked on top of the valve device 30 such that the head guide recesses 44 of the cylinder head 40 may be fastened to distal ends of the guide pins 120 protruding upward from the valve device 30. Thereby, the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10 may be supported by the guide pins 120 to be aligned at their correct positions.

Subsequently (referring to FIG. 6), the fixing bolts 50 may be inserted from the top of the cylinder head 40 to be fastened to the flange portion 24 by passing through the cylinder head 40 and the respective elements of the valve device 30, to inter-couple and fix the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10 without risk of separation. When the fixing bolts 50 are fastened, the respective parts of the cylinder assembly 10 can be maintained in an aligned state at their correct positions without deviating from their assembling positions, since they are supported by the guide pins 120.

After the fixing bolts 50 have been fastened (referring to FIG. 7), the assembling jig 100 may be moved downward to separate the guide pins 120 from the cylinder assembly 10. Thereby, the assembling jig 100 may be removed outward from between the flange portion 24 and the body portion 22 of the cylinder block 20. As the assembling jig 100 is removed from the cylinder assembly 10, the assembling of the cylinder assembly 10 may be completed. In the resulting non-limiting example of a cylinder assembly 10 consistent with the present invention, since the guide pins 120, which may be integrally formed with the assembling jig 100, may be removed from the cylinder assembly 10 (possibly simultaneously) with the removal of the assembling jig 100, the guide pins 120 do not increase the number of parts of the cylinder assembly 10. This ensures easy assembling and a simplified configuration of the cylinder assembly 10.

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a cylinder assembly for a compressor and an assembling method using an assembling jig. The assembling jig may be integrally formed with guide pins to effectively maintain respective parts of the cylinder assembly in an aligned state while preventing the respective parts from deviating from their correct assembling positions when fixing bolts are fastened through the cylinder assembly. After being used to assemble the cylinder assembly, the assembling jig (and thus the guide pins) can be removed from the assembled cylinder assembly. The use of the removable assembling jig has the effect of facilitating the easy assembling of the cylinder assembly while simplifying the configuration of the cylinder assembly.

Although non-limiting embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. 

1. A method for assembling a cylinder assembly for a compressor including a cylinder block having a compression chamber defined therein, a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block to seal the compression chamber, and a valve device interposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head to control inflow and outflow of refrigerant into and out of the compression chamber, the method comprising: supporting the cylinder block on an assembling jig, which is formed with a plurality of guide pins, such that the plurality of guide pins extend outward from the cylinder block; aligning the valve device and the cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening the plurality of guide pins through valve guide holes perforated through the valve device and head guide recesses formed at a surface of the cylinder head; fixing the cylinder assembly such that the cylinder block, valve device, and cylinder head do not separate from each other; and removing the assembling jig from the cylinder assembly.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the cylinder block includes a body portion, a cylindrical portion extending laterally from a circumference of the body portion to define the compression chamber therein, and a flange portion provided at a distal end of the cylindrical portion opposite the body portion, the supporting of the cylinder block is accomplished as a surface of the flange portion facing the cylindrical portion is supported on a supporting surface of the assembling jig, and the block guide holes are provided at the flange portion.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: the cylinder head includes a refrigerant suction chamber and a refrigerant discharge chamber, the refrigerant section chamber being separated from the refrigerant discharge chamber, and the valve device includes, a valve plate having a suction hole configured to enable communication between the compression chamber and the refrigerant suction chamber, a discharge hole enabling the compression chamber and the refrigerant discharge chamber, and a discharge valve to open or close the discharge hole, a suction valve interposed between the valve plate and the flange portion to open or close the suction hole, a first gasket interposed between the suction valve and the flange portion, and a second gasket interposed between the valve plate and the cylinder head, and the valve guide holes are provided in the valve device to correspond to the block guide holes.
 4. A cylinder assembly for a compressor, comprising: a cylinder block having a compression chamber defined therein; a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block and configured to seal the compression chamber; and a valve device interposed between the cylinder block and the cylinder head and configured to control the inflow and outflow of refrigerant into and out of the compression chamber, wherein the valve device and the cylinder head are positioned to be aligned with the cylinder block when the cylinder block is supported on an assembling jig, wherein a plurality of block guide holes and a plurality of valve guide holes are perforated through a portion of the cylinder block and the valve device, respectively, to allow guide pins to be fastened therethrough, and wherein a plurality of head guide recesses are formed at a surface of the cylinder head to be coupled to the valve device.
 5. The assembly according to claim 4, wherein: the cylinder block includes a body portion, a cylindrical portion extending laterally from a circumference of the body portion to define a compression chamber therein, and a flange portion provided at a distal end of the cylindrical portion opposite to the body portion, and the plurality of block guide holes are provided at the flange portion.
 6. A method for assembling a cylinder assembly, the method comprising: fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide hole provided at a cylinder block; aligning at least one of a valve device and a cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide portion provided at each of the valve device and the cylinder head; securing the cylinder block to at least one of the valve device and the cylinder head; and removing the at least one guide pin.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one guide pin includes a plurality of guide pins.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the at least one guide pin is provided at an assembling jig.
 9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one guide pin is provided at an assembling jig.
 10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one guide portion includes at least one of a valve guide hole and a head guide recess.
 11. An apparatus for assembling a cylinder assembly, the apparatus comprising: means for fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide hole provided at a cylinder block; means for aligning at least one of a valve device and a cylinder head with the cylinder block by fastening at least one guide pin through at least one guide portion provided at each of the valve device and the cylinder head; means for securing the cylinder block to at least one of the valve device and the cylinder head; and means for removing the at least one guide pin.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: the at least one guide pin includes a plurality of guide pins, and wherein the at least one guide portion includes at least one of a valve guide hole and a head guide recess. 